First VR Surgery Now Streaming Live

Ever wondered what surgery looks like from the doctor’s point of view? Well now you have a chance to see for yourself as the world’s very first surgical operation shot in VR is being streamed live this week, 100% free of charge.

Taking place at The Royal London Hospital, the operation will be filmed using two separate 360-degree cameras with various lenses, allowing viewers to move about the room as well as zoom in and out of the actual operation. So if you’re a little squeamish, you may want to hang out a little further from the action. For most of you though, I’m sure you’ll be shoulder-to-shoulder with the doctors.

The procedure will center around a 70-year-old unnamed male patient being treated for colon cancer. Although the patient chose to remain anonymous, he is reportedly enthusiastic about being apart of the revolutionary project. Leading the operation will be Dr. Shafi Ahmed, a Cancer Surgeon at Barts Health NHS and an outspoken advocate for the use of virtual reality in the surgery industry.

Dr. Ahmed believes the project will provide students and other viewers with an “Unparalleled learning experience.” He stated, “As a champion of new technology in medicine, I believe that virtual and augmented reality can revolutionize surgical education and training, particularly for developing countries that don’t have the resources and facilities of NHS hospitals.”

You can preview the app now available on Gear VR.

Thanks to the partnership between healthcare company Medical Realities and live streaming app Mativision, thousands of medical students and many others will be able to experience the immersive learning experience. However it sounds as though the two companies are just getting started, expressing interest in eventually using CGI graphics, labels and various other overlays in their streams.

The operation happens this Thursday April 14th, but you’ll have to be up pretty early as it takes place at 1pm BST. That’s 5:00am Pacific… Yikes. If for some reason you are awake at that unholy hour, you can view the event using the live streaming app available on both iOS and Android.

If you’re using a Gear VR, you can just search ‘VRinOR’ in the Oculus Store.